1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cancer research. More specifically, the present invention relates to gene expression profiling of plasma cells from patients with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a uniformly fatal tumor of terminally differentiated plasma cells (PCs) that home to and expand in the bone marrow. Although initial transformation events leading to the development of multiple myeloma are thought to occur at a post-germinal center stage of development as suggested by the presence of somatic hypermutation of IGV genes, progress in understanding the biology and genetics of and advancing therapy for multiple myeloma has been slow.
Multiple myeloma cells are endowed with a multiplicity of anti-apoptotic signaling mechanisms that account for their resistance to current chemotherapy and thus the ultimately fatal outcome for most patients. While aneuploidy by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and DNA flow cytometry are observed in >90% of cases, cytogenetic abnormalities in this typically hypoproliferative tumor are informative in only about 30% of cases and are typically complex, involving on average 7 different chromosomes. Given this “genetic chaos” it has been difficult to establish correlations between genetic abnormalities and clinical outcomes. Only recently has chromosome 13 deletion been identified as a distinct clinical entity with a grave prognosis. However, even with the most comprehensive analysis of laboratory parameters, such as β2-microglobulin (β2M), C-reactive protein (CRP), plasma cell labeling index (PCLI), metaphase karyotyping, and FISH, the clinical course of patients afflicted with multiple myeloma can only be approximated, because no more than 20% of the clinical heterogeneity can be accounted for. Thus, there are distinct clinical subgroups of multiple myeloma and modern molecular tests may identify these entities.
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and multiple myeloma are the most frequent forms of monoclonal gammopathies. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance is the most common plasma cell dyscrasia with an incidence of up to 10% of population over age 75. The molecular basis of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma are not very well understood and it is not easy to differentiate the two disorders. The diagnosis of multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance is identical in ⅔ of cases using classification systems that are based on a combination of clinical criteria such as the amount of bone marrow plasmocytosis, the concentration of monoclonal immunoglobulin in urine or serum, and the presence of bone lesions. Especially in early phases of multiple myeloma, the differential diagnosis is associated with a certain degree of uncertainty.
Furthermore, in the diagnosis of multiple myeloma, the clinician must exclude other disorders in which a plasma cell reaction may occur such as rheumatoid arthritis and connective tissue disorders, or metastatic carcinoma where the patient may have osteolytic lesions associated with bone metastases. Therefore, given that multiple myeloma is thought to have an extended latency and clinical features are recognized many years after the development of the malignancy, new molecular diagnostic techniques are needed in screening for the disease and provide differential diagnosis for multiple myeloma, e.g., monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance versus multiple myeloma or the recognition of various subtypes of multiple myeloma.
Thus, the prior art is deficient in methods of differential diagnosing and identifying distinct and prognostically relevant clinical subgroups of multiple myeloma. The present invention fulfills this long-standing need and desire in the art.